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Feb. 27th, 2012 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firebyrdWhile I think the word "privilege" gets thrown around too much, sometimes things just reek of it. A thread on /. devolved into basically calling people who don't eat healthy stupid and lazy. "Eating healthy is cheaper than fast food!" was declared over and over. Some people tried to bring up things such as the opportunity costs of cooking, but were mostly brushed off. What amazes me is that no one seemed to understand that it's not a dichotomy between eating healthy and eating fast food/expensive frozen dinners/pizza/etc. While eating healthy may be cheaper than eating fast food all the time, eating healthy /is/ more expensive than eating cheaply.
Apples are cheaper than many kinds of fresh fruit and veggies. One still costs $0.30-$0.50 each depending on the size. How many people will one apple feed compared to the $0.50 box of generic mac and cheese? How much does ramen cost compared to carrots? And so on and so forth. You have to look at all that before you even consider the opportunity cost of cooking. Throwing a pan of water on to boil and dumping a box of something in takes a lot less time and energy than chopping up vegetables and doing whatever it is that you're going to be doing with them. The variety of cheap frozen veggies is pretty slim, at least around here, consisting mostly of peas and corn, which aren't exactly the healthiest of veggies anyway. California mixes of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots are usually more expensive. Anything other than those five things are either very expensive and/or inedible (seriously, even when used in cooking, frozen spinach is beyond disgusting, and I /like/ spinach!).
I've had this argument with people before, most notably with someone who lives in San Diego. The privilege just drips from someone like that. Let's see, you live in an area where much of the produce of the Western US, if not the whole country, is grown. You have farmers' markets year round. You don't have the cost of transportation added into the price of things, and you're trying to tell /me/ that eating fruits and vegetables is cheaper than anything else? Drives me crazy.
We're actually going to try joining a CSA this year and have my mom chop the stuff up for me so that I can hopefully use it, since the opportunity cost is as much if not more of an issue for me personally. Hopefully that's going to help us eat healthier at least. But for people who have even less money than us, that live in areas where there is little local stuff available other than in summer, or where there are even no grocery stores, just 7-11 type stuff...eating healthy is most certainly /not/ cheap nor is it is easy.
Apples are cheaper than many kinds of fresh fruit and veggies. One still costs $0.30-$0.50 each depending on the size. How many people will one apple feed compared to the $0.50 box of generic mac and cheese? How much does ramen cost compared to carrots? And so on and so forth. You have to look at all that before you even consider the opportunity cost of cooking. Throwing a pan of water on to boil and dumping a box of something in takes a lot less time and energy than chopping up vegetables and doing whatever it is that you're going to be doing with them. The variety of cheap frozen veggies is pretty slim, at least around here, consisting mostly of peas and corn, which aren't exactly the healthiest of veggies anyway. California mixes of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots are usually more expensive. Anything other than those five things are either very expensive and/or inedible (seriously, even when used in cooking, frozen spinach is beyond disgusting, and I /like/ spinach!).
I've had this argument with people before, most notably with someone who lives in San Diego. The privilege just drips from someone like that. Let's see, you live in an area where much of the produce of the Western US, if not the whole country, is grown. You have farmers' markets year round. You don't have the cost of transportation added into the price of things, and you're trying to tell /me/ that eating fruits and vegetables is cheaper than anything else? Drives me crazy.
We're actually going to try joining a CSA this year and have my mom chop the stuff up for me so that I can hopefully use it, since the opportunity cost is as much if not more of an issue for me personally. Hopefully that's going to help us eat healthier at least. But for people who have even less money than us, that live in areas where there is little local stuff available other than in summer, or where there are even no grocery stores, just 7-11 type stuff...eating healthy is most certainly /not/ cheap nor is it is easy.
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Date: 2012-02-27 09:05 pm (UTC)It sucks. It really sucks.
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Date: 2012-02-27 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-27 09:10 pm (UTC)Yes, as I said to the doctor the other day, I'd need to be better off to eat healthily.
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Date: 2012-02-27 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-27 11:22 pm (UTC)Commodorified and friends are doing a series of posts on how to cope with the problems AROUND fixing healthy food. Transport, storage, processing, etc.
http://commodorified.dreamwidth.org/tag/cooking+for+people+who+don%27t+carnival
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Date: 2012-02-28 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 03:59 pm (UTC)Heck yes. How often have I spent $10 or $20 trying to cook something healthy and have it come out so badly it's not worth eating. I could have gotten a couple fast food meals for the same money! Or a few frozen dinners!
You have to look at all that before you even consider the opportunity cost of cooking. Throwing a pan of water on to boil and dumping a box of something in takes a lot less time and energy than chopping up vegetables and doing whatever it is that you're going to be doing with them.
That, too. Even with the best of intentions, I sometimes have trouble making time to cook. I can toss a TV dinner in the microwave, stir it midway through, and have a meal ready in three minutes. What healthy food could I make as fast and effortlessly?
at least around here, consisting mostly of peas and corn, which aren't exactly the healthiest of veggies anyway.
So sad about that. I was overjoyed to discover that I liked peas... then nearly the next day I learned that they're actually carbs (like corn), so count as potato/starch/bread, not a veggie at all. Sigh.
I really like the idea of CSA boxes. If I ate
anymore vegetables, I'd seriously look into that option.no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 08:55 pm (UTC)It is too bad about your veggie issues. I bet you have tons of CSA options in your area. We've only got five around here and most of them are just 12-14 weeks.
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Date: 2012-02-28 09:02 pm (UTC)I'm sure we have lots of CSA options around here, yeah. And failing that, like you said, we have the farmer's market year round. I could actually go to four different ones per week (four locations, four different days of the week. The same group runs them all, though the vendors aren't the same at each).
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Date: 2012-02-28 10:04 pm (UTC)Hmm. Must make that again myself...
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Date: 2012-02-28 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 11:05 pm (UTC)1lb ground beef, one or two onions hacked into random lumps, two tins cheap baked beans in tomato sauce, one tin red kidney beans, one tin chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, stock cube, a couple of chopped bell peppers if they're handy (we get these pre-chopped and frozen for less than we can get them fresh). One teaspoon cocoa powder. Don't laugh, the cocoa works, especially if you overdid the chilli powder. A little cornflour (cornstarch, I think) if it turns out too thin. It's downright simple, and one pot keeps us fed for three days, more if we have rice or bread with it. Can also be frozen. Nicer the day after. Add lumps of potato or leek if desired.
Similar recipes work for chicken, pork or corned beef, though you'll probably want to cut back on bean, chilli and cocoa content. Dumplings are lovely, quick to prep and very difficult to get wrong, if you can find a suet substitute.
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Date: 2012-02-28 11:08 pm (UTC)Fry up mince, onion and garlic until mince is cooked. (For mince, see Ground Beef.) Sling in stock pot. Add everything else. Stir. Ignore for at least two hours. Check the taste, add more chilli or cocoa as required. Ignore until eating time. If you can, it smells so good. :)
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Date: 2012-02-28 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-29 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-28 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-29 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 02:14 am (UTC)I do not eat fast food, do cook for my family 6-7 days a week, and plan my meals and grocery shopping every week. But I realize how very lucky I am to have the time, resources, and ability to do so. Anyone who doesn't see how this is a privilege is either ignorantly or deliberately blind.
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Date: 2012-03-08 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-08 03:44 pm (UTC)Bull. If you eat this way, you'll be too broke to do ANYthing else.
You've hit the nail right on, Ginny. Healthy eating is a privilege of the wealthy and it is a self-repeating problem, because people who grow up eating junk will not develop a taste for healthy food even when it is available to them. Re: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/17/local/la-me-food-lausd-20111218
And Laurie's right, too. The folks who need good food the most have the least access to it. Weird how the industrial age has flipflopped this issue.
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Date: 2012-03-08 03:54 pm (UTC)Even on days when I don't do the crock, I try to do my meal prep during a time of day when I'm at leisure and have the stamina - again, usually the mornings. It's a lot easier for me to throw together a stir-fry at 6:00 pm if my veggies are already chopped and waiting in the fridge. Come to think of it, I ought to spend a day a week or so just chopping up onions, peppers, etc. and freezing them, ready to go when I need them for stews, seasonings, etc. I'm not by nature that organized! But it does make life a lot easier if I make myself take the time.
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Date: 2012-03-08 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 06:01 pm (UTC)Speaking of beans, pinto beans go a long way, too, if you have time to just leave them simmering on the stove for hours.
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Date: 2012-03-08 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-11 06:40 pm (UTC)